Table 2. Participation rate distributions within constituent years among masters swimmers across historical periods for the separate genders and age periods.

	Categoryr	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Total	χ²	p
Gender	Males	877	723	590	550	480	3220	154.00	< .0001
	Males 1972	22	51	22	22	21	138	24.83	< .0001
	Males 1982	106	80	54	58	41	339	38.54	< .0001
	Males 1992	176	139	114	93	82	604	47.21	< .0001
	Males 2002	141	98	78	77	83	477	30.20	< .0001
	Males 2012	192	171	184	161	139	847	10.16	< .05
	Males 2016	240	184	138	139	114	815	61.18	< .0001
	Females	508	420	406	356	322	2012	49.93	< .0001
	Females 1972	11	6	8	9	8	42	1.57	-
	Females 1982	45	26	29	45	34	179	8.79	-
	Females 1992	100	57	57	59	47	320	26.69	< .0001
	Females 2002	93	92	67	55	54	361	20.48	< .001
	Females 2012	127	120	125	94	92	558	10.58	-
	Females 2016	132	119	120	94	87	552	13.13	< .05
Age	Younger Adults	574	545	479	457	406	2461	37.23	< .0001
	Younger 1972	19	41	23	22	18	123	14.36	< .01
	Younger 1982	84	61	43	54	40	282	21.94	< .001
	Younger 1992	151	102	87	86	72	498	37.68	< .0001
	Younger 2002	104	107	76	76	73	436	12.92	< .05
	Younger 2012	98	128	153	127	113	619	13.43	< .01
	Younger 2016	118	106	97	92	90	503	5.28	-
	Middle Adults	620	485	420	374	328	2227	115.80	< .0001
	Middle 1972	14	16	7	9	11	57	4.67	-
	Middle 1982	58	34	36	40	30	198	12.00	< .05
	Middle 1992	81	70	65	56	43	315	13.11	< .05
	Middle 2002	102	69	47	49	52	319	33.34	< .0001
	Middle 2012	167	131	132	101	98	629	25.05	< .0001
	Middle 2016	198	165	133	119	94	709	46.39	< .0001
	Older Adults	191	113	97	75	68	544	89.35	< .0001
	Older 1972	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Older 1982	9	11	4	9	5	38	4.63	-
	Older 1992	44	24	19	10	14	111	31.75	< .0001
	Older 2002	28	14	22	7	12	83	16.82	< .01
	Older 2012	54	32	24	27	20	157	22.78	< .001
	Older 2016	56	32	28	22	17	155	29.42	< .0001

χ² = Chi square; p = p-value; NS = Non-significant; Younger Adults = 35-49yrs, Middle Adults = 50-64yrs, Older Adults = 65yrs and above.